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Erephrand Downshield
The noble is Lord Erephrand Downshield (the Earl of Downshield), the son of Roryn Downshield, who was ennobled by Azoun IV very early in Azoun's reign for personal loyalty to the king (read: defeating an assassination attempt and taking wounds in the process). Erephrand is a mild-mannered, middle-aged, single man who rode with Alusair and has his own fierce personal loyalty to her. He's not a rebel or any sort of foe of Cormyr, he simply dislikes the meddling of the Wizards of War, whom he regarded as the REAL traitors to the realm, under Vangerdahast. When young and vigorous and busy making many trips to, and later extended stays in, Suzail on his father's business (enriching the family through shrewd trading deals and investments in the prosperous, ever-expanding Sembian economy of the time), he discovered that he had a natural, hitherto hidden talent for the Art, and decided to hire tutors and take some training so as to be able to hold his own against passing hedge-wizards, overbearing minor priests, and, yes, overly officious War Wizards (of lesser magical accomplishments; he never intended nor expected to be a match for a group of wizards or a senior War Wizard). Again, let me stress that Erephrand Downshield is NOT a rebel. He simply wanted the confidence of knowing his own abilities, and of being able to control them, to hold his own in defending his shousehold and his family interests - - rather than having the War Wizards clamp down on him the moment his facility for magic was discovered. The confrontation was just that: upon ascending to the lordship (earldom, that is, but I've used the customary colloquial Cormyrean term of "lordship"), on the death of his father, Erephrand politely but very firmly disagreed with the War Wizard who had been serving as his father's "house wizard" on how family business should be conducted. The particular low-level wizard was a rather sneering, superior sort, and Erephrand took some delight in publicly astonishing - - and besting - - him in a minor trading of warning (as in "shot across your bows") magics. Which earned him a swift visit from Vangerdahast, and a quite amicable understanding being reached, involving the installation of a new house wizard. :} The confrontation took place in the hall (great room or feasting hall, but Downshield Keep has just the one large room, so it's simply called "the hall") of the family seat, which is a three-storey walled stone manor house that boasts a lone crenellated stone tower, located on a lane running north off The Way of the Manticore, about a day's easy ride east of the Wyvernflow (or of Wheloon, if you prefer), about a sixth of a day's ride up that lane, in the heart of the rolling farm and ranch countryside of eastern Cormyr. Erephrand hasn't yet (just pre-Spellplague) married, and has outlived his father, mother, and one sister, so he might well be the second and last Earl of Downshield - - or he might sire a large next generation of Downshields; we just don't know yet. (However, we do know that he's very fond of Alusair and that he enjoys the company of women.) Category:Humans Category:Inhabitants of Suzail Category:Nobles